Global Courant
The presidential elections in the Central African country will take place in May.
Authorities in Chad have approved 10 candidates for this year’s long-awaited presidential elections, with two fierce opponents of the military government stripped of their positions.
Chad’s Constitutional Council announced on Sunday that outspoken opposition figures Nassour Ibrahim Neguy Koursami and Rakhis Ahmat Saleh would be expelled.
It said their applications had been rejected because they contained “irregularities”.
The council said the appointments of interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby and the country’s recently appointed Prime Minister Succes Masra had been accepted.
The Central African country is expected to hold the first round of presidential elections on May 6 and the second round on June 22, with preliminary results due on July 7.
The elections are part of a transition back to democracy, away from the rule of Chad’s military government, one of many currently in power in West and Central Africa.
There have been eight coups in the region since 2020, raising concerns about a democratic backsliding.
It is the first time in Chad’s history that a president and a prime minister have faced each other in a presidential election.
Deby initially promised an 18-month transition period before elections after seizing power in 2021, when his long-ruling father was killed in clashes with rebels.
But his government later passed resolutions that postponed elections until 2024 and allowed him to run for president, sparking protests that were violently suppressed by security forces.
In December, Chadians voted in favor of a new constitution that critics say could strengthen Deby’s grip on power by allowing him to run for president.
Deby confirmed his intention to run for office earlier this month.
Masra, previously a staunch opponent of Chad’s military rulers, had fled the country after dozens were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations in the capital N’Djamena in October 2022.
He returned in November after a reconciliation agreement was signed that guaranteed him the opportunity to participate in political activities.
Several opposition parties have since distanced themselves from Masra.
Call for boycott
Wakit Tamma, one of Chad’s main opposition platforms, called on Saturday for a boycott of the presidential election, denouncing it as a “masquerade” aimed at maintaining a “dynastic dictatorship.”
The exclusion of the opposition candidates comes less than a month after General Deby’s main rival Yaya Dillo Djerou was shot dead during an army attack on his PSF party headquarters.
In early March, Human Rights Watch called for an independent investigation into Dillo’s killing, arguing that the attack by the military “raises serious concerns about the environment for elections scheduled for May.”
Prime Minister Masra subsequently promised that his government would launch an international investigation to determine responsibility for the death of the military government’s main opponent.
